Critique~ 7yr old APHA halter gelding -PIC HEAVY

He looks really nice and built.
I love his coloring.

I prefer small face markings, but he really rocks the bald face.
He'll be great as an all around horse. How's his movement?

His nickname is Little Brother ;)

Fast lol he is super quick on his feet. When he slows down his trot is super smooth. No one has ridden him at a lope yet but when he lopes across the pasture its very easy going. He has hardly ever been ridden so we have been taking it slow with him. We couldn't ride him for a while due to his hooves (I'll post a pic of those in a second) and then it was show season and we didn't have a lot of trail ride time, but once that cooled off we finally started hitting the trails and he has done wonderfully. He's learning to cross creeks without hesitation and traffic doesn't bother him a bit. I'm very excited about him

I really should get more recent photos....lol
Please forgive the untidy look of his After shot. He was in the middle of getting a trimming when I snapped that shot.

He looks like a halter horse, indeed. And unfortunately, that's not a compliment. He has no bone to speak of to support his mass. He's a buffalo standing on toothpicks. Upright pasterns and downhill, too. I see him doing far, far better in the halter ring than in performance....but take care not to get him too fat while fitting him.

Do you know his HYPP status?

He's N/N

Have to say I agree with Bubba. First thing that jumped out at me was that there's no bone to speak of. Granted, he's better than a lot of halter horses, but still... that's nowhere near enough bone to support him.

Thank you for your input. :)

I am curious though, that if I hadn't said anything about him being shown in halter, if I would have gotten the same remarks, since this forum seems to have a high population of anti-halter members.

Yes you would have. His build screams halter. I'm with bubba and bep on their comments in regards to his conformation. He is built to stand there and look pretty, not really built to stand up to any real performance.

I like him. I think he does have pretty good bone to him compared to many horses that I have seen. He's a solid horse. But he's a paint, he's not going to have thick draft legs underneath him to support his body. Do you know what his breeding is like?

He's built bigger then my mare, but she has some pretty small legs compared to my other horse. But my farrier and vet aren't concerned with them. They think she's built just fine and shouldn't have any leg/hoof issues. And your boy looks better supported on his legs them what my girl does. (To me anyways) My girl was a rescue at 8 months so I had no idea she was going to fill out the way that she did...I was quite concerned actually.


Chilly, my mare.


This, is what scares me. This is what I define as a poorly bred animal. Sure the pedigree say's she's good, but I bet she won't make it past 12 years old before she's put down.

I think that you have done a wonderful job getting him back is shape. And his hooves look absolutely wonderful! A complete turn around. Congratulations on getting him healthy and happy. I'm sure your proud of yourself and of him. Great job!